Dear Friends & Partners In
Ministry,
This week has been one of those
weeks of reflecting on the goodness of God and His faithful leadership in our
lives. Two days ago (January 13) was a very significant anniversary in my life.
It was a day when I looked back over the last 17 years and I see the very
gracious hand of a loving God who has been leading and directing and guiding my
family down a path of life that required and still requires faith, trust, and
obedience to God and at the time 17 years ago required a complete willingness
to follow the Lord to a place on the other side of the world from my birth.
You
see, 17 years ago on January 13, 6 Johnson family members were on a plane that
landed in Bangkok, Thailand. Hope and I (Michael)
were in our mid/late 30s, our oldest daughter Jessica was 9, Elizabeth was 6,
Joshua was 1, and Caleb was soon to be born on March 10. To the right is a
picture that was taken just a few days before we got on that plane 17 years
ago. Below is a pictures that was recently taken with the additions of two
son-in-laws and a visible picture of Caleb who will be 17 years old this March
10th.
As I look back over the past 17
years, I am grateful for the love and support of my awesome family and their
willingness to support me in my sense of God’s call on my life. I am grateful
for the love and support of the gracious Thai people and especially the awesome
Thai staff that God has surrounded me with over the years. I am grateful for
the love and support of churches and individuals that have helped the ministry
to grow and flourish and especially those who stood beside us in our time of
need and who still support us and God’s work through Northern Thailand Impact
Ministry (NTIM). I am also grateful most of all for God allowing an ordinary
sinner like me with no special abilities to be a part of joining God in what He
has been doing in Thailand these last 17 years.
We have had the great honor of
seeing God do some amazing things including seeing hundreds of 1st
generation believers come to know Jesus from some of the least reached people
groups in Asia. We have been very active in investing our lives in people and in
making disciples these last 17 years and I just want to say that our God is
good and is worthy to be worshipped and served with all of our hearts. We pray
that all that we have said and done over these last 17 years for the sake of
the gospel will always bring glory to God. Thank you for your continued
partnership with us as we seek to make much about Jesus in and around Northern
Thailand and as we implement an even more intentional strategy in 2016 to reach
several key UPGs in and around Northern Thailand in the days to come.
Your Servants to
the Nations in and Around Northern Thailand,
Michael
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Financial support can be given through NTIM....
Northern Thailand Impact Ministry (NTIM), P.O. Box 26115,
Birmingham, AL 35260 USA Main Website: www.gontim.org
NTIM is a non-profit
501(c)(3)charitable organization based in the USA. We are committed to connecting
people in need with people who care and are focused in the heart of Southeast
Asia where poverty is high, education is low, needs are great, darkness is
everywhere, and the love and message of Jesus is needed to transform lives.
Reaching,
Teaching, Discipling, Equipping, Training, and Serving People in God’s World
through acts of love and compassionate is what NTIM and our ministry team is
all about.
